Anthony Davis has been out for five games. The first, against the Wizards, was won, but the next four all lost. The Lakers are in the hard without their interior, it is obvious, and the last setback to date, on Christmas Eve, proved it.
On the side of Dallas, Darvin Ham has tinkered by sometimes putting Russell Westbrook at the pivot position… No solution works and the defense sinks, like this third quarter with 51 points conceded.
“We try a lot of things and we see what works”, recognize the coach for ESPN. “Davis isn’t here and that’s a hell of a hole in our squad, but we’re not going to make an excuse. We are professionals, we must raise our level. »
“How many times are we going to come to the surface, before being definitively under water? »
The former Pelicans inside is suffering from a stress fracture and the date of his return is not known. Admittedly, the month of January has been mentioned for a return, but without any certainty. The difficulties will therefore continue for a few more days… at least.
“The reality is that without Davis, we lose a lot of size, when we don’t already have a lot,” to analyse LeBron James. “We have to succeed in making people forget that, but without AD, it’s very difficult. There was a time when, I believe, Austin Reaves (1m96) was the greatest on the floor… You don’t have to be a genius to understand that we miss Davis. »
The Lakers had started the season very badly with two wins in twelve games, but they then managed to climb the slope, in particular because Anthony Davis had been monstrous for several weeks.
Can they do it again in 2023? LeBron James praises the qualities of resilience of his group, but he also confesses that it will be complicated to have to bounce back too often… “I see things from another angle: how many times will we go back to the surface, before being definitively under water? »
A call to Rob Pelinka, the GM of the Lakers, to bring help under the circle in the coming weeks?
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| lebron james | 24 | 36.1 | 49.3 | 31.4 | 71.4 | 1.3 | 6.9 | 8.2 | 6.7 | 3.0 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 27.4 |
| Anthony Davis | 25 | 33.4 | 59.4 | 29.0 | 82.6 | 3.1 | 9.0 | 12.1 | 2.6 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 27.4 |
| lonnie walker | 29 | 30.3 | 46.5 | 39.4 | 87.1 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 15.5 |
| Russell Westbrook | 29 | 28.0 | 40.3 | 27.9 | 68.0 | 1.2 | 4.9 | 6.1 | 7.6 | 3.6 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 14.6 |
| Austin Reaves | 30 | 29.5 | 52.5 | 39.8 | 89.9 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 11.1 |
| Dennis Schroder | 18 | 26.7 | 43.2 | 33.3 | 90.9 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 3.8 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 2.2 | 10.7 |
| Thomas Bryant | 18 | 18.5 | 64.3 | 50.0 | 68.8 | 1.3 | 4.1 | 5.4 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 10.5 |
| Troy Brown, Jr. | 29 | 22.6 | 41.4 | 30.9 | 100.0 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 6.1 |
| Patrick Beverly | 25 | 26.7 | 37.6 | 29.9 | 78.6 | 0.6 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 5.6 |
| Wenyen Gabriel | 23 | 14.3 | 61.7 | 30.8 | 78.6 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 3.9 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 5.5 |
| Kendrick Nunn | 26 | 12.4 | 35.3 | 28.8 | 92.3 | 0.0 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 5.3 |
| matt ryan | 12 | 10.8 | 30.6 | 37.1 | 80.0 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 3.9 |
| Max Christie | 16 | 14.3 | 36.5 | 42.4 | 75.0 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 3.4 |
| Damian Jones | 17 | 9.7 | 55.6 | 0.0 | 75.0 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 3.1 |
| Scotty Pippen, Jr. | 3 | 7.6 | 14.3 | 50.0 | 66.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 2.3 |
| Juan Toscano Anderson | 14 | 10.4 | 42.9 | 18.2 | 71.4 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 2.2 |
| cole swider | 1 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
